This patent application claims priority from a Japanese patent application No. 2002-079760 filed on Mar. 20, 2002, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink cartridge and an ink cartridge holder. More particularly, the present invention relates to the ink cartridge for supplying ink to a recording apparatus, and the ink cartridge holder for holding the ink cartridge.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been known an ink jet recording apparatus including an ink cartridge holder on which an ink cartridge filled with ink is detachably mounted and for supplying the ink to the ink jet recording apparatus is known. A large-size ink cartridge is used for the ink jet recording apparatus which records on large-size papers, such as posters, in order to cope with a large quantity of ink consumption.
The ink cartridge used for the ink jet recording apparatus may be provided with an IC chip which stores information, such as a type of ink, color of ink, remaining amount of ink and the like. An information reading section is provided on the ink cartridge holder at a position facing the IC chip when the ink cartridge is mounted on the ink cartridge holder, and the IC chip on the ink cartridge and the information reading section on the ink cartridge holder are electrically connected and communicate with each other.
However, there is variation in the ink cartridge holder, the ink cartridge, their components and assembly of these components. When the relative position between the IC chip on the ink cartridge and the reading section on the ink cartridge holder deviates, the electric connection between them comes to fail and it causes communication error or interruption between them. In particular, when the size of the ink cartridge is large, the magnitude of the gap of the relative position between the IC chip and the reading section due to the product variation tends to become large.
Moreover, in order to mount the ink cartridge on the ink cartridge holder easily, there may be clearance in the ink cartridge holder. It is preferable to provide larger clearance in the ink cartridge holder for the large size ink cartridge. However, in this case, looseness due to the clearance may cause the gap of the relative position between the IC chip and the reading section, as mentioned above. Therefore, it is highly likely that the communication interruption between them will occur.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink cartridge and an ink cartridge holder which can solve the foregoing problems. The above and other objects can be achieved by combinations described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous and exemplary combinations of the present invention.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink cartridge for supplying ink to a recording apparatus. The ink cartridge includes: an ink cartridge main body for containing ink therein; a connection electrode section provided on a part of a first wall of the ink cartridge main body and including connection terminals electrically connected to a memory element; an ink supply section provided in a front wall which intersects the first wall; and a positioning section for guiding the ink cartridge along a positioning member of the recording apparatus located in the vicinity of the connection electrodes on the front wall so that the positioning member opposes to the connection electrode section in the direction parallel with the connection electrode section.
In the ink cartridge, the connection electrode section is located in a recessed portion of the first wall.
In the ink cartridge, a center axis of the positioning section lies within a width of the connection electrode section.
In the ink cartridge, the center axis of the positioning section, extending in the direction parallel to the first wall and the surface perpendicular to the cartridge insertion direction, is substantially aligned with a centerline of the connection electrode section extending in the direction parallel to the first wall and the surface perpendicular to the cartridge insertion direction.
The ink cartridge may further include a substantially elliptical sub-positioning section, a center axis the sub-positioning section and said center axis of the positioning section both lying in a plane which is substantially parallel to the first wall, wherein a major axis of the sub-positioning section extends in the direction parallel to the first wall and intersects the second wall perpendicular to the cartridge insertion direction.
In the ink cartridge, a distance between the front surface and a top surface of the positioning section may be longer than a distance between the front surface and a top surface of the sub-positioning section.
The ink cartridge may further include a projecting member disposed on a second wall which intersects the first wall of the ink cartridge main body.
In the ink cartridge, viewed in a direction perpendicular to the second wall, the projection overlaps a portion of at least one of the connection electrode section and the positioning section.
The ink cartridge further includes a grip section formed at an end of the ink cartridge opposite to the front wall.
In the ink cartridge, the grip section includes a concave portion.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink cartridge holder that receives an ink cartridge, where the ink cartridge is detachably mounted, where the ink cartridge has a connection electrode section for an information storing unit located on a part of a first wall, and has an ink supply section located on a front wall which intersects the first wall. The ink cartridge holder includes: a holder main body including an opening through which the ink cartridge is inserted, the front wall first, said holder main body holding the ink cartridge; an information reading section including a connection electrode section within the holder main body, the information reading section being provided in a position corresponding to the connection electrode section of the information storing unit of the ink cartridge so that, when the ink cartridge is mounted, the connection electrode section of the information reading section is in electrical contact with the connection electrode section of the ink cartridge; and a positioning member extending from the holder main body toward the opening face, and positioned in the vicinity of the information reading section in a direction parallel with the first wall and with the front wall of the ink cartridge so that, viewed in a direction perpendicular to a plane in which the first wall of the ink cartridge lies, when the ink cartridge is mounted, at least a portion of the positioning member overlaps at least a portion of the information reading section of the ink cartridge.
In the ink cartridge holder, the positioning member may include: a positioning member main body having a tapered end, the positioning member main body being dimensioned and disposed so that when the ink cartridge is held by the holder main body, the positioning member main body is received by the ink cartridge; and an abutting section including an abutment surface which abuts against the ink cartridge when the ink cartridge is held by the holder main body.
In the ink cartridge holder, the abutting section has a larger cross-sectional area than a cross-sectional area of the positioning member main body.
In the ink cartridge holder, viewed in a direction perpendicular to the first wall of a mounted ink cartridge, a center axis of the positioning member main body lies within the width of the connection electrode section of the information reading section.
In the ink cartridge holder, the center axis of the positioning member main body extending in a same direction as the positioning member may be substantially aligned with a centerline of the connection electrode section of the information reading section extending in the direction parallel to the first wall and intersecting the front wall of the ink cartridge.
The ink cartridge holder may further include a sub-positioning member extending from the holder main body toward the opening face of the holder, the sub-positioning section and the positioning member both lying in a plane which is substantially parallel to the first wall, wherein the distance between the connection electrode section of the information reading section and the sub-positioning member is longer than the distance between the connection electrode section and the positioning member in a direction parallel to the first wall and the front wall of the ink cartridge.
In the ink cartridge holder, a center axis of the positioning member is parallel to a center axis of the sub-positioning member.
In the ink cartridge holder, the sub-positioning member may include: a sub-positioning member main body with a tapered end, the sub-positioning member main body being dimensioned and disposed so that when the ink cartridge is held by the holder main body, the sub-positioning member main body is received by the ink cartridge; and an abutting section with larger cross-sectional area than the sub-positioning member main body including an abutment surface, wherein a distance between the opening face and the abutment surface of the abutting section of the sub-positioning member is greater than a distance between the opening face and the abutment surface of the abutting section of the positioning member.
In the ink cartridge holder, the holder main body is dimensioned so that there is at least clearance at least in the direction parallel to the first wall and the front wall of the ink cartridge during the mounting of the ink cartridge.
The ink cartridge holder may further include an urging section selectively pressing against the second wall which intersects the first wall and the front wall of the ink cartridge.
In the ink cartridge holder, the urging section has a first position in which the ink cartridge can be inserted into and removed from the holder main body, and a second position in which the ink cartridge is restrained in the holder main body.
The summary of the invention does not necessarily describe all necessary features of the present invention. The present invention may also be a sub-combination of the features described above.